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Best of Summer Awards (aka The Dollys!)

By June 27, 2013October 2nd, 2013346 Comments

If you asked our family what summer means, youโ€™d get a few different answers. The girls would say tomato sandwiches, no school, and ice cream. (Seriously, itโ€™s a physical impossibility not to eat a Flav-R-Ice or a scoop of mint cookie every day.) If you asked Andy, it would be tomato sandwiches and road-trips where youโ€™re driving down some county road in upstate New York and you come upon a Rolling Stones-tattooed barn like the one you see above. (We had to pull over to take a picture.) If you asked me, though, it would be tomato sandwiches, a honeysuckle-infused warm breeze off the Hudson, and, of course, the DALS Best of Summer Awards. With no further adoโ€ฆthe Third Annual Dollys!

Best Thing Weโ€™d Always Been Too Afraid to Make, Then Made And Discovered Wasnโ€™t Hard: Fried Zucchini Blossoms
A few summers ago, we were lucky enough to eat at The River Cafรฉ in London where we dined on many many delicious things โ€“ all of which have been completely subsumed in our collective memory by one dish: Fritto Misto, featuring Zucchini Blossoms. While itโ€™s probably true that deep-fried battered anything is almost cheating when it comes to culinary trickery, these vegetables were different. ย Instead of rendering them greasy, heavy, and filling, the deep-frying seemed to have the opposite effect: The blossoms on our plates were light, airy, melt-in-your-mouth-y, and gone in 30 seconds. We attempted replication last week in our own kitchen with a box from our favorite farmerโ€™s market vendor. Success! โ€“ Jenny

Best Seasonal Sundae Topping: Fresh Strawberry Smash
Hurry up and get on this one fast, while those tiny, ruby-red, slightly soft strawberries are dominating the farmerโ€™s market. Ever since we made the pilgrimage to Dougโ€™s Fish Fry in Skaneateles, New York a few years ago and had fresh smashed strawberries drizzled on top of homemade vanilla ice cream, Iโ€™ve been wanting to bust this out at home. This will be our year. To execute: Remove stems from berries and halve. (Donโ€™t shy away from the berries that look overripe; those are the best ones.) Put them in a small mixing bowl, sprinkle with sugar, and smash with a fork, until the juice is running and the consistency looks saucy but not smooth. Spoon over vanilla ice cream โ€” or, even better, sandwiched between a slab or pound cake and some fresh whipped cream. โ€“ Andy

Best Vegan Breakfast: Strawberries and Vanilla Almond Milk
If youโ€™re not going to smash up those overripe berries for dessert, save them for breakfast. Add a bunch into a drinking glass, pour vanilla almond milk into the glass, then dump the whole thing into a blender and give it a whirl. Every time I start the day with one of these, I think โ€œNow thatโ€™s how you start a day.โ€ Then I chug a gallon of coffee. โ€” JR

Best Summer Jam: Wakinโ€™ on a Pretty Day, by Kurt Vile
You know when youโ€™re in one of those phases when you canโ€™t bear to listen to any of the music you have? When youโ€™re sick of your entire iTunes library? When youโ€™re out running and you spend more time scrolling โ€” click, click, click, click โ€” than you do actually listening to music? That was me a few weeks ago. So I emailed my buddy Will, who as far as I can tell, knows as much about music as any man alive and asked him: What should I be listening to right now? He wrote back instantly: โ€œWakinโ€™ on a Pretty Dayโ€ by Kurt Vile, a song he described as โ€œbreezy good times.โ€ Three weeks later, Iโ€™ve probably listened to it 200 times. Which is more impressive/troubling given that the song is nine minutes long. The kids love the zen-like video and itโ€™s perfect for summer night when the patio door is open and the grill is going. โ€” AW

Best Summer Time-Saver: Grab-and-Go Bag
We do a lot of road-tripping over the summer, which means we do a lot of packing and unpacking andโ€ฆforgetting toothbrushes and braces gear and lip balm and hairbrushes. To save ourselves from the first-world anxiety that ensues, we bought the girls little cosmetic kits last year and filled them with supplies collected in hotel rooms and Targetโ€™s travel-size bins. The products live in the cosmetic kit year round, so all the girls have to do when packing for a quick trip is throw the kit in the duffel. This is one of those things that brings me (and I think them, too) inexplicable happiness every time it works. Especially when I forget my own lip balm. โ€” JR

Easiest Summer Dinner: Grilled Sausages
Thursday is my new favorite day โ€” itโ€™s the day I pick up my farm-share box at Stone Barns. That means I donโ€™t have to do much by way of dinner. I throw together a few fresh salads, then fire up the grill or the skillet, and cook a few sausages that I picked up at the farmerโ€™s market the previous weekend. (Last week, I added some hot dogs to the platter for a friend of Abbyโ€™s, but she ended up saying โ€œI donโ€™t usually like sausages, but Iโ€™m going to tell my mom to get these!โ€ then ignored the Hebrew Nationals altogether.) Because of the bountiful produce, you donโ€™t need a lot of meat โ€” maybe a single link each โ€” and the whole thing comes together faster than you can drink a glass of chilled rose. ย โ€” JR

Most Indispensable Summer Cookbook: Alice Watersโ€™ Chez Panisseย Vegetablesย 
You need to own this book. Full disclaimer here: I do not own this book. But Iโ€™ve given it to pretty much all of my food-loving friends, including Todd, who lives down the street from me, and who I email right about this time every year asking if I can borrow it for a little while. He is nice enough to say yes, but itโ€™s really not so fair of me to take it from him right as the summer produce is peaking. The book is not so much a cookbook as it is an A-to-Z encyclopedia of vegetable inspiration โ€“ and it is always the first thing I think to turn to when the CSA box includes a head of kohlrabi or a bunch of garlic scapes or rutabaga or something else I feel utterly ill-equipped to whip into dinner. Waters assumes youโ€™re starting with the freshest stuff possible, so the recipes are always simple (as in, again, yesterdayโ€™s slaw) and always inspired. OK, Todd, Iโ€™m going to one-click it right now. โ€” JR

Best Accompaniment to Anything Thatโ€™s Been Grilled: No-Mayo Slaw
We like a classic creamy picnic slaw as much as the next guy (see page 242 of my book), but lately weโ€™ve been super into brighter, healthier, more experimental takes on the genre. Whether itโ€™s our MVP kale-avocado-pickled onion, fennel-apple-sunflower seed (page 243 of my book), the Lee Bros cabbage, peanut, and lime slaw, anything from the slaw section of The Grilling Book (photo above left: Peden + Munk), nothing offers the same kind of fresh, cool counterpoint to the char of a whatever is coming off the Weber. โ€” JR & AW

Best Reminder of Why itโ€™s Fun to Be a Kid: Pink Soccer Socks
Itโ€™s crazy how much neon is flying around our house these days. Itโ€™s 1987 all over again. (Minus, thank god, the Forenza sweaters.) Neon shirts, neon sneakers, neon hairbands, neon lacrosse sticks. And now, maybe my favorite of all, ridiculously pink neon Adidas soccer socks. There may be a lot wrong with the world today and any number of reasons to despair, but these are definitely not one of them. โ€“ AW

Best Way to Use Up Straggling CSA Veggies: Scrambled Eggs
Of course, anything that involves an egg deserves a Dolly (maybe an Oscar? A Nobel?) in my book, but this has been my favorite lunch lately. I chop up whatever leafy green is on its last legs, sautรฉ with a little onion or shallot, red pepper flakes, then scramble in an egg or two thatโ€™s been whisked with a little Parm. No oneโ€™s gonna complain if thereโ€™s a fresh chive or two snipped on top, either. Itโ€™s fast, light and, when washed down with an apricot or two, my idea of heaven. โ€” JR


ย 

Best All-Purpose Summer Shoe for Kids: Salt-Water Sandals
Itโ€™s been well established that I donโ€™t have girly-girls. For the most part, Iโ€™m OK with this. OK, fine, I freaking love it. Unless weโ€™re talking fifteen minutes before the graduation party or my parentsโ€™ 45th ย anniversary celebration or the fill-in-the-blank special occasion when they come downstairs wearing something fancy (i.e. anything that isnโ€™t a soccer jersey) with their Nike Free-Runs. When I ever-so-diplomatically suggest trying on a pair of ballet flats at Marshallโ€™s (โ€œjust for special occasionsโ€) they make that sucking-a-lemon face. But Iโ€™m lucky in one regard โ€” the only fancy shoe (i.e. anything that isnโ€™t a sneaker) theyโ€™ll tolerate is a classic: Salt-Water Sandals, or โ€œSaltiesโ€ as theyโ€™re known. I love them because a) they come in every color of the rainbow b) they are not Nikes and c) they work for pretty much every occasion that doesnโ€™t call for Nikes: parties, sightseeing, traveling, beach-going. As long as itโ€™s summer, that is. Come fall, Iโ€™m back to square one. โ€” JR

Best Healthy Alternative to Soda: Agua Fresca
For her end-of-the-year 4th grade Spanish class party, Abby announced recently, she decided she/we would bring empanadas (more on this later, โ€™cause they were tasty) and agua fresca, in the flavor of her choosing. How easy was the agua fresca? This easy: I put two cups of cantaloupe chunks in a blender and added two cups of water, a good squeeze of honey, and the juice from one lemon. I blended until it was totally smooth, and poured it through cheesecloth into a large pitcher. (You can skip the cheesecloth if you donโ€™t mind a little pulp.) I squeezed the last juice out of the cheesecloth, and put it in the refrigerator to chill. Dare I say, as good as Gatorade after a run. And maybe best of all with a bunch of ice and a little vodka? โ€” AW

ย 

Best Alternative to Soda, Grown-up Edition: Mount Gay and Tonic
Late in her life, my Scotch-loving grandmother โ€“ for reasons unknown โ€“ began drinking rum on the rocks. Suddenly, this was her go-to drink, summer or winter, rain or shine. As much as I loved her and respected her cocktailing skills, I am much more particular about my rum intake. But, if itโ€™s warm out, and Iโ€™m outside, and itโ€™s a weekend, and it is not raining, and it is not yet dark, and there is no shortage of ice, and there is a lime in the refrigerator, then I will happily drink a Mt. Gay and Tonic. Three things I like about it: 1. Itโ€™s a welcome change from our usual gin and tonics; 2. It has a really beautiful, summery coppery color; and 3. It gets the job done. โ€” AW

Best Summer House Host Gift: Tomato Tea Towels
I have a new photo album on my iPhone called โ€œGifts.โ€ Every time I see something I might want to buy for someone someday I snap a photo of the item, and file it away in the folder. I was really proud of this system, until I checked it the other day and realized that there were only four photos in there โ€“ and two of them were these tea towels I spied at MOMA design store. Guess I really liked them. โ€” JR

Best Trunk-of -Car Accessory That is Not a Jack: Fiddle Sticks
You should see our trunk. Actually, you shouldnโ€™t. Itโ€™s a mess. It contains, at all times: Two waterproof โ€œtailgatingโ€ blankets; a red, folding chair; a pink backpack with leotards and ballet slippers; a too-big shirt I bought at Dickโ€™s Sporting Goods about nine months ago and keep forgetting to return; about seventeen Trader Joeโ€™s bags; a soccer ball; some Poland Spring bottles; two tennis rackets and a bunch of free-range tennis balls; and a set of Fiddle Sticks, which are tiny, plastic lacrosse sticks, and which are so much fun to play with. ย Not expensive, easy to use (and trust me: I never picked up a lacrosse stick as a kid), and perfect to have on hand for those afternoons when the kids (or the dog) need to get out, find a patch of grass, and burn off some energy. A worthy alternative to the ball-and-glove. โ€” AW

Technique Most Likely to Convince Kids to Try Vegetables: Mint Pesto
We went out for dinner recently โ€“ no kids โ€“ to Lafayette, Andrew Carmelliniโ€™s new French place in downtown Manhattan. Among the things we ate there: grilled asparagus with morels, absurdly sweet scallops, beef cheek ravioli, and a dessert that featured pickled blueberries. But maybe the most flavorful, and memorable, thing we ordered was a simple plate of blanched snap peas, tossed with mint pesto and served with avocado and ricotta salata. The mint pesto was a genius addition โ€” heightening the flavor, but not overwhelming anything. We immediately began dreaming up ways to incorporate it at home โ€” with blanched asparagus, snap and snow peas, carrots, radishes, basically anything that arrives in our CSA box. It has the added benefit of being easy: In a mini food processor or blender, combine a cup of fresh mint with 1/3 cup olive oil, some parm, salt, pepper, and squeeze of lemon. โ€” AW

Best Summer Read (So Far):ย Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson
Iโ€™m not proud of the fact that as Iโ€™ve gotten older, it has become a lot easier for me to put a book down, half-way through, and never pick it up again. Maybe itโ€™s because reading is part of my job, but Iโ€™ve become pretty ruthless about it. I did not, however, have this problem with Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. When I wasnโ€™t actively reading this book, I was thinking about the moment โ€” on the train home, or in bed โ€” when I would be again. Itโ€™s about the way fate can turn on the smallest of moments. What wouldโ€™ve happened if Iโ€™d gone to this school instead of that one? If Iโ€™d married this guy instead of that one? If Iโ€™d turned left on the way home instead of right? If Iโ€™d grown up here instead of there? Atkinson explores these ideas, through narrative, in a way that is relentlessly inventive, suspenseful, and never hackneyed. Another one I loved:ย The Orphan Masterโ€™s Son by Adam Johnson. I know Iโ€™ve mentioned it before, but this book is so, so good. So, so, so, so good! And you donโ€™t have to take my word for it: it just won the Pulitzer Prize! โ€” AWย (PS: The winners of the book giveaway have been alerted! Thanks so much for playing.)

Best Best: The Tomato Sandwich
Because itโ€™s tradition, because itโ€™s fleeting, and because it will always be our number one signifier that summer is here.

PS: First Annual Dollysย (2011)
PPS: Second Annual Dollysย (2012)

PPSS: We are on vacation next week โ€” have a great holiday!

346 Comments

  • Avatar Jenna says:

    Salt water sandals โ€“ I think I need to get me a pair!

    And those two books sound like great reading selections!

  • Avatar Monica says:

    Love your list! And would love a great summer read ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Avatar Ally says:

    Both of those books sound intriguing!

  • Avatar Chelsea says:

    Canโ€™t wait to try the tomato sandwich!

  • christina says:

    tomato sandwiches..with homemade mayo! the best

  • Avatar Stephanie says:

    A friend sent me the link to this wonderful post that made me feel summer just by reading it! And, another friend just suggested both of theses books to me- would love to have a copy!

  • Avatar Teri says:

    Would love a great new book to read. Have also been loving your pretzel chicken on cool salad greens. Thank you, as always, for all of the wonderful inspiration.

  • Allie says:

    I love the idea of mint pesto but all of the mint that comes in my CSA box goes to mojitos. But I completely agree with you about the tomato sandwiches.

  • Avatar Yvonne says:

    Thank you for the mint pesto idea! Definitely a nice change-up from my usual lemon vinaigrette or sesame seed oil. And so happy to hear youโ€™re a fan of Kate Atkinson. ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Avatar Cynthia says:

    Your comments about tomatoes made my mouth water, but with GERD, they were one of the first things off my menu. And now with a newly fractured foot, not eating and reading will be my world for the next several weeks!

  • Avatar Bridgit says:

    Such a great list. We are still looking for a good sausage vendor in our neck of the woods. May I suggest a 1/4 tsp (or more)of balsa,ic in the beautiful strawberry smash? I can usually cut the sugar in half with it.

  • Avatar Ann says:

    I can not wait for my tomatoes to turn red!

  • Avatar Susan says:

    Love the list, canโ€™t wait for my tomatoes to be ready, and would love to win the books but will probably order them myself either way!

  • Avatar kat says:

    love your lists.

  • Avatar Candy says:

    Best post Iโ€™ve read all week! Thanks for making summer even better!

  • Avatar Hayley says:

    I grew up wearing salt water sandals. I canโ€™t decide if they look funny in larger sizes though. Thanks for the reminder that I should try some out! Thanks for the book suggestions. Been in desperate need of a good summer read.

  • Avatar Sydnie says:

    Thats for all the recommendations!

  • Avatar James Boelter says:

    Thanks a billion for the mention of the Kurt Vile song. I think you saved my weekend. What a lovely experience!

  • Avatar Kate says:

    Made the mint pesto and checked out the Atkinson book from the library. Eager to try both!

  • Avatar Cait says:

    Iโ€™d love to check out โ€œLife After Lifeโ€. Summer is my most productive reading period of the year!

  • Avatar Wendy O says:

    I was reading your summer blog and I canโ€™t wait till the tomatoes come in to have one of those tomato sandwiches. I am from Syracuse, New York and live about 20 minutes from Skaneateles. I was delighted to see Dougโ€™s Fish Fry on the list. It is one of our family favorite places to eat in the summer and occasionally in the winter when you miss summer.

    Think back to when you were there. Do you remember that they hang all newspaper articles etc. about Dougโ€™s Fish Fry to their walls. They love all and any kind of press. I am going to have to print your blog post and give it to them to hang on the wall. I will make sure I have your blog masthead on the printout.

    What is also funny is that we had strawberries over ice cream for dessert tonight. Just like how you said to make it. Yum.

    Love your blog.

  • Avatar Jessica says:

    I would lOVE that book! Been wanting to read it since it came out.

  • Avatar Queso says:

    Love this list. I canโ€™t believe Stone Barns has a CSA! Must do next year.

  • Avatar Ann M. says:

    Love your list! Thanks!

  • Avatar Jodi says:

    The tomato sandwiches remind me of โ€œHarriet the Spyโ€ and look delicious. Fingers crossed for new summer books!

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